Special music commissioned for National Chamber Music Day event this Saturday

Glasgow Wildfest continues this weekend, and it's taking on a rather musical slant in celebration of National Chamber Music Day! The Hidden Gardens, in Glasgow's South Side, will be open from 12pm-6pm on Saturday as part of Doors Open Day, and from 5pm you can bring along a picnic and eat to the relaxing sound of live chamber music. Enterprise Music Scotland have commissioned a new piece in honour of the event, and they've given us permission to re-post their blog about it below:

For this year’s National Chamber Music Day we have commissioned composer, Matilda Brown to write a new work!

The piece will be premièred at a special free event in collaboration with RSPB Wildfest and Door Open Days at the Hidden Gardens, Glasgow on Saturday 16th September, 5pm.

This new bird commission by EMS has given me the opportunity to discover many beautiful and exciting new things about birds and to share and perform these ideas with new musicians, out in the open.

Working on the project took me back to my first ever commission, ‘First Flight’ performed by ensemble 10:10, about two birds exploring the world for the first time, like fledglings leaving the nest.

This new piece features four birds that fly solo and meet together at various points throughout the music. At some point each instrument from the ensemble takes a turn to become one of these birds.

Skylark featuring a stonechat

Cuckoo

Curlew

Sea eagle

The instrumentation I have used is violin, viola, cello, piano and vocals.

Various motifs and accompaniments in the music are there to express the speed, size, elegance and character of each bird on some level, and to provoke in the listener, some kind of emotional response that may connect to their personal experiences of birds.

My inspiration for the piece began by simply going outside and listening to birds from the end of summer leading into the Autumn. Then I listened to Messiaen’s 'Chronochromie’, being once again amazed by his scoring of birdsong. My main source of inspiration has come from Kate Bush’s album, 'Ariel’, where she sings to live sound recordings of birds.

The piece for me, links to some of the music I have written in response to long distance wilderness walks. In 2014, I walked the Cape Wrath solo and I was convinced a little brown bird, which was a skylark, followed me for two days. I decided to feature this bird in a short song within the piece.

Humans have always wanted to fly. Perhaps that is one of the many reasons why birds continue to fascinate us - being in awe of their ability to be free. Let us preserve, enjoy and look up to these most precious birds.

National Chamber Music Day 2017 is sponsored by Mackie's of Scotland and The Hugh Fraser Foundation.